The Fallen Grey
by Nethdragon
Summary: Wow. I seem to like titles with the word "fall" in them... This is my version of the ending of the last HP book... which will never happen... Enjoy...


**Disclaimer: I suppose that I should say this, since I finally decided to use actual _names_ in my stories: I don't own anyone you recognize. (Duh…) Also, this ending was influenced _a lot_ by the ending of the very last Cirque Du Freak book (#12). All of you fellow fans out there might recognize it…**

The teenage boy looked out over the cliff and felt no tremors of fear. The frigid winds were blowing towards him, as if saying, "If you jump, you surrender… You surrender to us... You are at our mercy…"

But really, was he a boy any longer?... This world left no room for innocence…

Over his shoulder appeared a girl of similar age. If a stranger had been there to observe, they would have seen his eyes flick quickly to her and then refocus on the wind-tossed waves below him, crashing onto the rocks. But there was no stranger there to watch. And there was no one left alive to bear witness.

Except her. The girl's bright red hair was blown back by the same wind that seemed to tempt and torture the other.

"No one is left."

The boy continued to stare at the waves. Would the pain of falling drown out the torment inside of him? Or was he already dead? This night he had felt pain to the point of dying, but ironically, he was the only one still alive. 'Good' guys, 'bad' guys, they were all dead. Lost. Gone. The war was over. And no one had won. How could there be any victory in a war? There simply _couldn't_ be…

"I'm aware of that," his strangled voice came back to her.

The waves crashed on the rocks below. He imagined himself falling; truly free of all worries, all pain... and then he imagined himself _fallen_, free of all _life_… He dreamt, and had time to dream, for a few moments, at least, because there was only one step left.

Only one stage left to insure that the great evil of this Darkness never again grew potent to the point of nearly overpowering the forces against it. That would upset the balance of nature… and neither side should ever triumph.

There was always a balance, you see? It existed everywhere. Yin and Yang. Good and Bad. Light and Dark. These two would always exist, destroying the world. _Together,_ they would destroy the world. Wreaking havoc through their wars.

If he, the Chosen One, the Deliverer, stuck around to "save" the world once again, some other evil would arise, greater than the first. And he knew now that he could not defeat it. Not without the others. Not alone.

Yes, he was perfectly aware of that.

It was a pity that it had taken him until after the last battle to realize it.

He let the lure of the waves draw him one step closer to the edge of the cliff. Or was it the edge of madness?

_Nothing can be undone..._

He had to die.

For how do you balance out 'good' and 'bad' after the 'bad' has been destroyed? You tear down the 'good,' of course. What was true good, anyways? Hadn't impurity been born of clarity? There would have been no shadows if there had never been any light. Maybe the Grey in between was best.

_Die, Potter._

Don't worry. I'm going to.

The seconds passed. Why hadn't he fallen yet? There was only one thing left to join him to the Earth. Was it the pain that held him back? Fear?

Or simply emptiness?

He thought that might be it. He _felt_ _nothing._

"Today is the rebirth of the world," the girl whispered from behind him. Her red hair whipped around her.

Still entranced by the waves, the boy turned. The twisted rapture of the ocean ended. Tears slid slowly down his cheeks, catching the blood from his wounds along the way.

"Ginny," his voice broke. He fell towards her, caught her, held her, never let go of her, never, watch out for her, Harry, he would, he always would, always... He had promised her and he had promised Ron and he had promised himself…

"Ginny," he was sobbing. The nothingness had ended. He felt so much that it was killing him.

But thank God she was no illusion. Not like the others, not the others, he had seen them after the fight in which they had died, they had stood there, just staring at him, at him, their eyes, they were staring, always watching him, just watching him, always…

Then he was falling to his knees, and she, falling, too; and they cried, and it _was_ for the Light after all, the ones who had fought, the ones who had died. They cried_ not_ for the Grey ones, the neutral ones, the ones who had stood by and watched the Night nearly triumph time after time without lifting a finger, who had considered the Light and the Darkness _equally worthy_ of their aid…

He kissed her blood stained hair, her wet cheeks, her lips. She was here. She would hold him until the last.

They sobbed, and each of their tears seemed to take an eternity to reach the ground.

And he had to die.

She knew. Without his death, the circuit would never, _could_ never be complete… Without his death, the light and darkness could not start a new age of battles, of trials. Old enemies could not then meet in the guise of new rivals. Thus was the matrix of history, which should- and would- repeat itself again and again until the end of time.

She did know. And she would not interfere.

It was more difficult than death for them to rise. She pulled him, and he lifted her, each one resurrecting the other from their own individual darkness, each one leaning heavily on the other, though neither felt the other's weight…

She cried and looked up, and fell into the eyes that had entranced her years before.

Yes, she had always loved his eyes. They held everything about him, his fear, his pain, his love… Green eyes, everyone knew that. But Ginny was one of the few people to stare into them long enough to see the flecks of gold there, holding his power, his will, his _soul_…

_Neither can live while the other survives…_

The prophecy was fulfilled. But it held true for them as well.

His slender frame shook with the effort of standing, his body bent from sobbing. She was still crying, also, and both were screaming on the inside- Let it end let go I want to die I don't want to live I don't want her to die he has to die but he has to stay with me with me always don't let her die not him don't let her never embrace me always…

Still they held each other. If they continued like this, the last step would never be taken. Then they would have made the same mistake the previous Chosen One had made. _That _Deliverer had held fast to life, and the evil had grown stronger as the result.

Dumbledore had paid greatly for his mistakes. Harry owed everything to his mentor… including his life.

And now he would repay that by offering his death.

His red-haired redeemer murmured through her tears.

"Don't think about it, don't let it hurt you we will be with them soon it will all be over soon it's going to end the pain will end We won't die. This world will die for _us_. We will live on…"

He was stumbling with her towards the cliff. Then they were at the edge, and Harry heard the waves, the ocean, but then she kissed him on the mouth and the ocean held not one hundredth of the attraction he felt for her.

And still they kissed each other and held each other for forever and ever and always and never letting go eyes closed against the world they were smiling sobbing leaning falling the ocean was tilting hundreds of feet they would never survive they would be fallen on the rocks they were falling down they would die but they didn't want to live, what was there to live for except each other?… falling faster and faster she laughed because they would be triumphant in their dying… but no, they would live on, forever, because they were part of the circuit, and the circuit would always live on never dying forever and ever and ever… The world was ending for them, it was swiftly coming and swiftly going… going… going … gone.


End file.
